In the classic tradition of the Silicon Valley entrepreneur, Gordon Campbell has struck it rich in the computer chip business. The company he founded less than six years ago, Chips & Technologies, had sales of nearly $300 million last year, and Campbell himself has amassed a fortune. But unlike traditional semiconductor companies, Chips & Technologies does not actually manufacture anything.

The first floor of NEC's most sophisticated semiconductor plant stands empty, its future at the mercy of turbulence in the global chip industry. "Five years ago, we had a plan for that space," explained Yuji Sugita, a manager at NEC Kyushu Ltd., about an hour's train ride from the city of Fukuoka on the island of Kyushu. "Now we're not sure what will happen."

Isemi Igarashi is nursing a beer in a cramped Tokyo sushi bar and expounding on the future for microscopic robots when he notices a mosquito circling his raw tuna. "Take the mosquito, it's a fabulous mechanism," says Igarashi, executive vice president of Toyota Motor's central research and development laboratory. "It has little sensors that seek out a blood vessel. It makes a cut in the skin with the saw at the tip of its beak and sucks out a precise quantity of blood. "Don't you hate shots?

The United States and Japan are once again in high-stakes, high-tech competition, this one over the increasingly important digital device known as the flat-panel display screen. But unlike some of the previous contests, such as the one involving computer chips, the flat-panel display race is not likely to be won by the side that sprints fastest down a straight track. Indeed, the twists and turns of flat-panel engineering are now making the race look a lot like the one between the tortoise and the hare.

Marantz Co., a small manufacturer of audio components based in Chatsworth, has created a stir at the Consumer Electronics Show here by going where the Japanese giants have feared to tread. By becoming the first manufacturer to announce plans to ship digital audio tape recorders to U.S. retailers, beginning in October, Marantz has broken a months-long logjam between U.S.

Philips of Holland, Europe's biggest consumer electronics conglomerate, said Friday that it will join forces with Matsushita of Japan to launch an audiocassette with the sound quality of a compact disc. In a widely expected move, Philips Electronics NV said it will jointly license the technology for its Digital Compact Cassette to record companies, blank-tape makers and hardware manufacturers with Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., the world's biggest consumer electronics company.

Five major Japanese electronics firms announced an agreement Wednesday to market video telephones especially for home use, allowing callers to see still images of the person on the other end of the line. The companies said the agreement calls for them to produce equipment with standardized specifications so users can combine parts from different companies. The five companies are Matsushita Communication Industrial Co., an affiliate of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.; Mitsubishi Electric Corp.

February 24, 1994 | MICHAEL SCHRAGE, Michael Schrage is a writer, consultant and research associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He writes this column independently for The Times

After spending billions trying to bully America into doubling the video resolution of its analog television sets, Japan finally conceded that the D in HDTV will have to stand for digital . The very next day, the Japanese commenced a furious backpedal--right off a cliff. But all this sound and fury signifies nothing. Even Japan Inc. can't impose an outdated technology by group incantation.

Japan May File Charges in Bid-Rigging Cases: Japan's anti-monopoly watchdog is poised to file rare criminal charges against nine electronics firms and their executives, alleging bid-rigging going back as far as January, Japanese media said. The Fair Trade Commission has been investigating suspicions that the firms, which include industry leaders, repeatedly rigged bids and arranged in advance the winners of contracts for water supply and sewage systems for regional governments.

Andres Trujillo, a 27-year-old electronics engineer, is glad for the growing number of Asian manufacturers in Tijuana. He has a good-paying job with Hitachi, the Japanese electronics company, which recently sent him to Japan for a month to learn television design trends and Japanese culture. But workers aren't so thrilled with Hyundai, a Korean manufacturer of steel shipboard containers and truck trailers, a low-tech operation here that employs teams of welders and riveters.

Sony Corp. won a round Tuesday in its battle with Toshiba Corp. over a key consumer electronics technology when three major Japanese disk-drive makers joined the Sony camp. Two groups of electronics firms led by Sony and Toshiba are promoting rival formats for next-generation digital video discs, which are expected to become a powerful new medium for selling movies and other entertainment programs.

Providing fresh evidence of how some Japanese markets are kept closed, Japan's Fair Trade Commission on Monday accused nine electrical machinery makers of illegal bid rigging. Among the firms accused of anti-competitive practices are some of Japan's most famous electronics firms, including Hitachi Ltd., Toshiba Corp. and Mitsubishi Electric Corp.

The killer earthquake that struck Japan's industrial heartland Monday will cause ripple effects all across the global economy as manufacturers, financiers and real estate markets in the United States and elsewhere discover just how dependent they are on Japanese money and supplies, government and industry officials said Tuesday.

Japan May File Charges in Bid-Rigging Cases: Japan's anti-monopoly watchdog is poised to file rare criminal charges against nine electronics firms and their executives, alleging bid-rigging going back as far as January, Japanese media said. The Fair Trade Commission has been investigating suspicions that the firms, which include industry leaders, repeatedly rigged bids and arranged in advance the winners of contracts for water supply and sewage systems for regional governments.

Production by Japan's electronics companies will rise by 2% next year as improving world economies spur demand for electronic products, an industry association said. The Electronic Industries Assn. of Japan, which represents 600 Japanese electronics makers, said total electronics production in 1995 will likely reach $21.7 billion, up 2.2% on the year, led by strong demand for mobile communications systems and semiconductors.

In Europe, the Sony televisions that line storefront windows flicker with familiar scenes from the movie "Hook," a proud product of Sony's film division. Outtakes from the updated Peter Pan fable have also found their way into Sony's new corporate image campaign in Japan. On the company's Culver City studio lot, meanwhile, Sony hardware executives are hard at work on the technologies that are expected to take the film industry into the next century.

The gloom over Japan's electronics industry after being battered by three years of recession is beginning to lift, with new optimism reflected in an outpouring of innovative gadgets, both useful and wacky. Sharp Corp. this month is introducing a new device to transmit recorded video images over telephone lines, and a number of firms are introducing an array of products that highlight Japan's dominance in liquid crystal display technology.

February 24, 1994 | MICHAEL SCHRAGE, Michael Schrage is a writer, consultant and research associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He writes this column independently for The Times

After spending billions trying to bully America into doubling the video resolution of its analog television sets, Japan finally conceded that the D in HDTV will have to stand for digital . The very next day, the Japanese commenced a furious backpedal--right off a cliff. But all this sound and fury signifies nothing. Even Japan Inc. can't impose an outdated technology by group incantation.